finance their racing with Coyne with either personal funds or self-obtained sponsorship. Often, the team ran one driver for a full season, with a second car being prepared for a rotation of drivers with only a partial season of financing. However, Coyne earned a reputation for quickly developing the skills of these drivers to a point where they could advance their careers. Drivers of note who had their first CART ride with Coyne included eventual series champion Paul Tracy, the Indy Lights champion Éric Bachelart, and eventual Le Mans winner André Lotterer. Despite the lack of competitive results during its first two decades of operation, the team was nevertheless a consistent full-time entrant year after year. Ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Moreno, starting his second stint in CART racing in 1996, broke through with the team's first podium finish at the 1996 U.S. 500. Michel Jourdain Jr. took over driving duties for the team and earned STP Most Improved Driver honors from his peers, in 1997. Jourdain would continue with the team through the 1999 season. Meanwhile, the second car was provided to various drivers with few competitive results. In 2000, Tarso Marques led the team with 17 starts following a deal with Swift Engineering for the team to field a factory-supported Swift chassis. He was joined by Takuya Kurosawa, who drove 8 starts, including an inspired drive at Long Beach which saw Kurosawa becoming the first Japanese driver to lead a CART race before an accident ended his hopes of a Top 10 finish. Alex Barron and Gualter Salles also shared the second car. Marques and Barron both recorded career-best finishes when the season closed. Barron, in particular, ran as high as second place in Australia before suffering an engine failure, and was in contention at Fontana, where he led the race for several laps and was in contention for victory before again retiring with an engine failure. The team struggled to stay afloat in 2001, following a short-lived partnership with the Project Racing Group that only enabled the team to contest two races. Coyne reemerged the following year to field the one-off Team St. George entry with driver Darren Manning, which resulted in a competitive run to 9th place at the 2002 Rockingham 500. Later in the season, Coyne provided Andre Lotterer with his only Champ Car start in Mexico. The Coyne team returned to full-time competition in 2003,